French Bank Group Confirms Cyberattack Amid $133M Crypto Theft Claim

French banking group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack involving fraudulent transactions, following allegations that hackers stole more than $133 million and moved part of the funds through cryptocurrency platforms.

The bank confirmed the incident on Wednesday, French broadcaster BFMTV reported. However, it did not disclose the amount involved, saying the attack had no financial consequences for customers.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT first reported the alleged theft, claiming the attackers spent several days moving funds through cryptocurrency exchanges before converting them into stablecoins. These digital assets are designed to maintain a relatively stable value, usually by tracking currencies such as the US dollar.

ZachXBT also accused the bank of taking too long to alert authorities, arguing that the delay gave hackers time to launder more than $30 million that European authorities could potentially have frozen.

The reported figures have not been independently verified, and Arkéa has not confirmed the scale of the alleged losses.

The bank said its teams responded immediately after detecting suspicious activity. It temporarily suspended certain transactions as a precaution, aiming to secure its systems and prevent further fraudulent transfers.

Arkéa added that the incident had been brought under control and that its operations were secured.

The incident comes amid a series of major crypto thefts, including the recent $6.3 billion breach at Binance, which the FBI attributed to North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor. However, North Korea has rejected the accusation.

Other major platforms have also suffered significant losses. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget lost an estimated $351.6 million after attackers compromised a backend system.

The breach followed the February 2025 Bybit hack, in which North Korean-linked attackers stole approximately $1.5 billion in digital assets.